THOSE WHO LACK BELIEF IN THEMSELVES WILL NOT BE BELIEVED

When you are training for a fight, it is vitally important that you build up your stamina. A marathon runner has very good stamina but they would never have the stamina to fight in the ring because a fighter’s stamina is totally different. In this article I will concentrate on the first part of a fighter’s stamina training; running. In future articles I will concentrate on bag work, pad work, sparring and body conditioning so that whatever fighting art you practice you can be totally confident that your stamina will really work for you when you go to fight in the ring.

RUNNING WITH YOUR OPPONENT

As a fighter you need to vary the way that you run, some days do a short thirty minute aerobic road run, other days do some hill running. Sprint running is also very important, do ten repetitions of 100 or 200 metres twice a week. Other times you should start with a five minutes slow run then one minute slightly faster then four minutes slightly faster again then back to one minute slow again. Continue this three or four times, but start to change the way you run, use footwork, bigger steps, run backwards and then forwards, pretend that you are dodging an opponent, but keep an eye on your stopwatch – 5 - 1 – 4 – 1. Control your breathing. When you want to give up, keep reminding yourself that this strong stamina training is excellent training for the ring, imagine your opponent is here, don’t let him or her beat you, you have to make yourself as strong as you can be.

A journey of a thousand miles

Keep reinvigorating your mind with positive thoughts. Don’t think about the pain or tiredness you are feeling and don’t think about the whole training that lies ahead of you, just focus on this one single step, concentrate on your pacing, your technique, and on doing this one step the best you can.

Remember the famous Tao saying – “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a footstep.” This rings just as true with training as it does with life. And focusing on that one footstep makes a huge difference when you are training. We are so used to our mind going everywhere and being very busy, it is a bad habit that we have got into it, but be strict with your mind, train it to keep coming back, keep coming back to this one step, this one step, and before you know it you have completed your run.

Making friends with the enemy

An important factor to remember when you are doing this training is to keep relaxing your body and letting go of the fatigue. If your muscles start to tense up, find a way to use your mind to relax them. You could use a visualisation technique, for example imagining your muscles are like ice and they are being melted by the sun or another way of dealing with the fatigue is by detaching yourself from yourself, and checking yourself from outside; how are you doing? What do you look like? Find the technique that works for you. Tiredness is something you will have to conqueror on a daily basis, so instead of it being an enemy, you may as well make it your friend.

Kung Fu Journey

In my DVD ‘Kung Fu Journey’, my director Marek Budzynski, insisted on showing what the training was really like on a typical day for a Shaolin disciple. Many people have dreams of being good at fighting or kung fu, but he wanted this DVD not to be like an advert but to show the real grit and hard slog of my training. One morning I went for my usual run at 5.30 am, and there he was with his film crew, filming me running up Parliament Hill in London. While I ran back to the temple, they raced back in their car and were waiting for me in the training hall.

Marek wanted to show real exertion and sweat so the viewer could get a feel for the training. And since watching this DVD, a lot of people have emailed and asked me why I use this weighted jacket when I run and how much it weighs.

Kung Fu Flying

It is 20 kg, and, as you can imagine, it makes running very difficult. When I take it off my body feels so light I feel like I can fly. I then start to do kicks or punches and they are much faster because I have been weighed down with this jacket. It is similar to runners training in higher altitudes, when they come back to a normal altitude it is much easier for them.

The reason they do this is to make the training physically harder than the competition. You need to make your training hard. As hard as you can. But find a coach or teacher so that you are pacing yourself properly. You must only use a weighted jacket when your stamina is at a certain level. This level of training is certainly not for beginners; if your body is not strong enough it can put too much strain on your muscles and potentially damage your joints.

THE IMPORTANCE OF RUNNING

I have done this training since I was fourteen years old. This kind of stamina training is very simple, hard, and boring but I can’t emphasise enough how important it is. Can you imagine if your kicking was like your sprint running? No one would be able to block your kicks. I’ve seen fighters do a lot of pad work and bag work but they never run and when they are kicked their legs can’t take it. As well as building your stamina, it also makes your legs very strong. This along with the circuit training I teach on my kung fu DVDs will keep you fighting fit and youthfully flexible. 

Never press the snooze button

This combination of stamina training is the so-called ‘secret’ behind the Shaolin martial arts. But I think it is the ‘secret’ of success. Hard work and perseverance. Training through boredom, injury, and tiredness. Put your clock on the other side of the bedroom so you can’t reach the snooze button and as soon as you hear the bell, don’t think, get up immediately. Remind yourself why you are doing this training; re-affirm your belief in yourself.

Those who lack belief in themselves will not in turn be believed

I will give you another quote from the Tao; ‘Those who lack belief in themselves will not in turn be believed.’ Believe in yourself. Don’t put limits on yourself. You can achieve much more than you think. And each day do a little bit more and a little bit more, remember don’t think of the journey, just take the steps, and take the steps, and before you know it you will be there.

Increase your stamina level with Shaolin Workout Volume 1, 2, 3 & Shaolin Bootcamp Volume 1 & 2

Heaven Is Now Or Never

 “Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train.”

Morihei Ueshiba

Whether we are fat, thin, old, young, healthy or unhealthy, we all share a mind and body that can be trained. If we step onto the path of Shaolin with intellligence and determination, I am confident that we can bring to our life the health and wholeness that we all seek.

Being healthy and whole means we take care of our minds at the same time as we take care of our bodies. Our mind plays a vital part in keeping us healthy. A happy mind makes a healthy body, and the key to happiness or unhappiness is in how we use our mind.

Most of us have minds that roam about like untrained puppies. Our martial arts practice -  whether it’s Qigong, Kung Fu or both - acts as an anchor and tethers our mind.  Once you start to workout with my DVDs, let this become a  refuge from your daily activities. A time to let go of the small self and allow the big self to concentrate on the posture and breathing.

This act of surrender creates an enormous freedom.  We just have to learn how to get out of our own way and once we can do that, we begin to harmonize with the universal life. Through our workout, we come back to ourselves. When our training session is finished and we go back to our daily life, we find that mind is clear and calm. But this clarity and calmness is just a by product. It is always important that we remind ourselves to do our workout without any goal or desire for profit.

 In the West there is a very strong emphasis on the individual and personal choice. But for all of us, our life is not just inside our body but it is a constant exchange with the life of the universe. We continually take in air, food, water, thoughts, energy, ideas, pictures. So where does the individual begin and end?

One thing that we all have in common is we want to be happy. Thich Nhaht Hanh, the great Zen master said that we can only find  heaven in the hear and now. There is no better place or better time or anywhere else to be.  The Qigong and Kung Fu that I teach on my DVDs are the Shaolin Way to Zen. Make this the year where you expect more from yourself and expect nothing. 

Click here to step on the path of the Shaolin Way Of Zen

SHAOLIN TEMPLE FIGHTING SKILLS - PART TWO

INVEST IN YOURSELF

At the Shaolin Temple, we get up every morning at five-thirty, and go for a run up the mountain. This is like putting money into a saving’s account. If we do not have the stamina then we will not be able to practice the skill. When we come back from the mountain, we practice five basic stances, five basic kicks and stretching.

Learning martial arts is no different from learning maths or English, if we cannot add two plus two then we cannot progress to algebra, if we cannot read the alphabet then we can never read Shakespeare. This is the reason we study these very basic skills. Only when our body is getting stronger do we then start to learn some internal and external forms, and only when our master feels we are ready do we progress to studying fighting punches and kicks and then start to fight in the ring.

THE IMPORTANCE OF QI

We also practice body conditioning. I specialise in Shaolin Steel Jacket. The reason I specialise in Shaolin Steel Jacket is because I am small – not much taller than 5ft 6 – so when I fight, I have to go into my opponent, and they are nearly always taller and heavier than me, which - without my body conditioning skill - would give them an advantage over me.

 I know it is difficult for many Western people to believe in Qi. Science still has not found a way to prove or disprove it. Excluding the Western understanding of the bodies anatomical system such as the nervous and respiratory system, within the human body there are a network of pathways which we call meridians, they carry Qi through out the body. They are like small rivers which when the body becomes stressed or ill become blocked. The Chinese believe in preventing illness rather than waiting for it to happen so we practice Qi Gong to keep a healthy flow of Qi running through our bodies. Sometimes I think we look after our cars, better than we look after ourselves. We don’t wait for it to break down before we give it gasoline, water, oil, or take it to the garage for a check up, so why do so many of us do that with our bodies?

BODY CONDITIONING

If we only want to keep healthy, then we will continue to practice healthy forms of Qi Gong all our lives, but if we want to be fighters then we learn to master the Qi and direct it into different parts of our body. The analogy I use is to compare it with the wheels on a car, they are useless without Qi – air – but by pumping simple air into its tyres the car is transformed from a vehicle with a powerful engine that can go nowhere to a vehicle with a powerful engine that can go everywhere.

Body conditioning gives us the confidence to come up against our opponent even if he looks bigger or stronger than us. With the Shaolin Steel jacket technique I put my Qi into my back and my torso and then I am confident that I will be protected from blows. My back and torso is like steel. It is my armour.

PLANTING THE FIGHTING SEED

All of this training is the planting of the seed. You plant an apple seed you get an apple tree. We plant a fighter’s seed, this means we set our motivation; we want to become an excellent fighter. We train hard - this is the cultivation - and then, after years of training, we start to become the fighter we always wanted to be.

THE FIRST FIGHT

But usually when we first go to fight, we are disappointed in ourselves. Training and fighting are very different. We may be good at training but that doesn’t make us good fighters. As Bruce Lee said, if you can’t hit your target, then what does it mean? And in the beginning, you may find it hard to hit this target who is no longer a pad, a bag or a fellow sparring partner but a determined fighter who wants to win as much as you

Nothing can prepare you for your first fight. But if you have trained consistently then you will know you are strong. You know you did everything to be the best. Doesn’t mean you will win but you will have the confidence to win. If you don’t have confidence then you can never win.

ARE THE SHAOLIN FIGHTING SKILLS FOR YOU

We all want to win. It feels good. But we must remember it is just a stopping point on the way, it is not our ultimate destination. And the Shaolin fighting skills are not a dream, and they are not a film, they are a life. So ask yourself, do you love the Shaolin Martial Arts? If you do then you must continue to train. Through hard training you will begin to understand that you are much more than you thought, through Qi Gong you will have health and energy, through meditation you will develop control over your mind. You will ultimately win the war over your ego. This is the highest martial arts of all, and one, which may take you many lifetimes to achieve.

Shifu Yan Lei offers a graded path of Shaolin Training for health, martial art, self-defence and fighting. For more details visit: 

www.shifuyanlei.co.uk

 http://www.shifuyanlei.co.uk/dvd_latest_release.htmlhttp://www.shifuyanlei.co.uk/dvd_latest_release.html

SHAOLIN TEMPLE FIGHTING SKILLS - PART ONE

EVOLUTION OF FIGHTING TECHNIQUES 

The Shaolin Temple in Henan province, China, was founded by a humble Indian Buddhist monk called Batuo around 495 BC. In 517 BC the Bodhidharma travelled from India to the Shaolin Temple, where he founded Ch’an Buddhism or what is more commonly known as Zen. The legend is that when he arrived at the temple, he discovered the monks were weak from practicing sitting meditation all day, so he conceived and taught them a series of internal and external exercises to increase their health, strength, and vitality. These later developed into what we now call Shaolin Kung Fu and Shaolin Qi (Chi) Gong.

Throughout the history of the temple, there has been a steady stream of monks bringing the best skills from the Asian world, combining them with ancient Shaolin skills, and then refining these modified skills for optimal effectiveness. The Shaolin Temple Fighting techniques are not pages from a history book but are something that are as alive and relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. Bringing Shaolin martial arts to the West is another chapter in the Shaolin book, and as a 34^th generation fighting disciple from the Shaolin Temple, I continue with this tradition today.


THE ART OF WAR

At the Shaolin Temple, as well as studying the art of meditation and Qi Gong, we also study the art of war. Long before guns, tanks, and bombs were invented, Shaolin martial arts were used in war. The monks had to find ways to change their body from vulnerable flesh, blood, and sinew into powerful invincible weapons. Not just their legs, arms, torso, and head, but also their internal organs, and most importantly their mind.

MIND = HEART = MIND = HEART

The Chinese character for mind is the same as it is for heart. In China we do not split them into two like you do in the West. Wherever your heart is so your mind will be. It is your heart or mind, which makes your world, everything comes from it. So when you train in the fighting arts, you must practice your heart at the same time as you practice your body. You need to understand yourself and be brutally honest. What are you good at? Improve this skill. What are you no good at? If you think you are good at everything then you don’t know yourself. Only when you know your own strengths and weaknesses can you control yourself. Only when you know your own strengths and weaknesses can you then go on to study your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and ultimately control them. This is the way to win a fight. This is also the way to win a war. But in war we are fighting with an enemy, in martial arts we are fighting with our own ego and our own inner enemy. We come up against this enemy continually in our training - when we feel tired, impatient, lazy, or we lose faith in ourselves or what we are learning. We especially come up against this when we are a new student.

Next week, in part 2 I show you how to become the best martial artist you can be.

Start training today at: http://www.shifuyanlei.co.uk/dvd_shaolin_offers.html

How To Make Your Body Become Its Own Doctor

“Bodhidharma travelled to the East to teach these two Yi Jin and Xi Sui classics. A bird like the crane is able to live long, an animal like the fox can be immortal, a human who cannot learn from these classics is worse than the birds and animals.”

 The Mind and Body of a Buddha

 Ee Jin Jing makes your muscles and tendons strong, flexible, fast and powerful while building up the health of your internal organs. Xi means wash and Sui means bone marrow.  Xi Sui  means clean your bone marrow. The aim of Xi Sui Gong is to detoxify the body and cleanse the unhealthy aspects of the mind. The highest aim is to help us reach enlightenment and give us the mind and body of a Buddha. But even if we can’t gain enlightenment in this lifetime, the least this Qigong can do is give us a long, healthy, and peaceful life.

 Connecting With Our True Nature 

 It is vitally important that we use our heart to train, not just our body. We can train as regularly and as hard as we like but if our heart isn’t present then we will never improve our skill or get the benefit from Qigong or Kung Fu. Whether it’s Shaolin, Karate or Taekwondo, the aim of any martial arts is to awaken us to our true nature. Our true nature can only be found in the here and now. Our martial art helps  to plant us in the present moment. This can sometimes be uncomfortable because it confronts us with who we truly are. But once we’ve broken through our smaller self, Qigong helps us to go beyond our small individual selves and find a connection with the very fabric of the Universe. It does not give us anything new; it simply connects us with the body’s internal power and automatic wisdom that already exists within us.

 If we train mindlessly then we may as will join a gym and watch TV while listening to music and running on the treadmill. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of training if all you want from your workout is to get fit but it’s certainly not the type of training which will increase our martial arts skill and power.

 The Power of Concentration

 The more we can concentrate, the more benefit we can gain from Qigong. Every movement of Xi Sui Jing is done from a sitting position, this sitting position helps us to develop patience. When you begin to run through the movements, your mind will be busy at first. This is natural. But as you focus on the breath and the movement together this will calm the mind and you will begin to feel peaceful. This calming of the mind cleanses the mind. With a clean mind, the mind and body can then begin to work in harmony. Once the mind and body are working in harmony, the body can start to self-regulate itself, unblocking the channels and preventing disease from building up in the body.

Our Body Is Our Own Doctor

 This is why we say that our body is our own doctor, the Qigong gives us access to the medicine. But this all happens unconsciously. Our body will start to feel better of its own accord without us having to intervene in any way. This has led many people to shun conventional medicine in favor of Qigong or other alternative medicines but I believe we should use the best of both worlds. If a person is suffering from an illness I recommend that they combine  Western medicine with Qigong so that it’s not an alternative approach but more of a complimentary approach.

The Challenge

 There is a famous story in China about a Ch’an master who was famous for his meditation and a Shaolin martial artist who was famous for his martial arts. One day the Shaolin master challenged the Ch’an master as he believed his skill was much better than that of the Ch’an master. The Ch’an master chose a narrow ledge at the edge of a high mountain, one wrong step and the person would fall to their death. Because they were both unskilled in archery they decided it would be fair if they challenged themselves in this way. The Shaolin master went first, he stood at the edge of the mountain but when he placed the arrow into the bow he couldn’t stop himself from looking down and he became scared at the thought of plunging to his death. This fear meant that he failed to hit the target. The Ch’an master took the bow and arrow, stood at the edge of the mountain, and hit the target perfectly. The Shaolin master was amazed and asked him what his secret was so that he could improve his skill. The Ch’an master said, “No thinking. No reason. Just do.”

No thinking. No reason. Just do.

 This is exactly what we must apply to our practice. EE Jin Jing makes our body like stone. Xi Sui Jing turns our body into a Buddha. But we need to practice and find this out for ourselves.

 Qi Lifting

 Higher level students learn Qi lifting which mixes internal and external together. They practice Qi and at the same time they use Qi. This kind of Qigong can only be transmitted master to student. This takes karma and the student needs to be ready. Powerful businessmen learn this Qigong from me because they know that the health of their mind and body is the most important thing. But this higher level can never be reached without first learning the authentic Shaolin forms that I teach on my Qigong DVDs. Without learning these forms we can never reach the higher levels.

The Way Of Qigong Volume 2

Shaolin Xi Sui Jing Qi Gong is taught on The Way Of Qi Gong Volume Two. 

Spotlight on Rou Quan - Soft Fist

Rou Quan is a favourite form of mine because it mixes internal and external together. It may look gentle but that's because the strength is hidden inside the movement. It can make you quickly tired because you need to stay in the stances for a longer time. Sometimes the movement is soft and at other times you need to use power but this power is not the same as when you use power in a kung fu form, it is a special combination of mixing internal and external.

Rou Quan is a famous Shaolin form, which is independent from all the other forms. One of the reasons for this is because it has some famous traditional techniques hidden in the movement. If they are not pointed out then a person may practice the form and be totally unaware of this. At the Shaolin Temple, Qigong practioners practise it, as do kung fu practioners because it perfectly complements both internal training and external training.

It needs more space than Qi Gong so try and go outside or to a park and run through it two or three times a few times a week. Once your body remembers it you can let go of thinking and it will tap into the innate harmony in your body. Not only qill it improve your Qigong and Kung Fu but I guarantee you will feel peaceful after practicing Rou Quan and more ready to face the day. 

Watch Rou Quan 

Purchase Rou Quan DVD

4 Small Steps To Wellness

1) One small step

"When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur... Don't look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time." John Wooden - successful basketball coach

Taking one small step makes our training manageable. If you can keep your skill over the winter months and not lose your stamina or technique this means you are improving. If you've stopped training, then take two movements from The Eight Treasures Qigong form and practice them for a few minutes every morning. It will make you feel better and give you the motivation to keep going.

2) Integrate the training into your life

Everything we do can be an expression of our Shaolin training. When we stand in a queue we can spend that time to go over in our mind the form we are practicing. When we walk to the supermarket we can walk quickly to help our fitness. If you have kids, go to the park and play football or tag. Teach your kids how to do the Five Fundamental Stances and have fun with it.

3) Get outside

The more you stay inside the more you start to feel lazy so try to go outside at least once a week and do your training in a park or an outside space. It may be a little cold but the autumn air is cool and refreshing. Training outside can help to ground and connect us with the greater Qi.  

4) Stay in the present moment

 "The moon's reflection on the surface of the water moves incessantly. Yet the moon shines and goes nowhere; it stays but it moves"

Now never returns. Every breath we breathe can never come back. The breath that comes after is never the one that came before. Yesterday was yesterday and today is different. If we can concentrate on the here and now then we can keep our practice fresh and new.

For more info visit: http://www.shifuyanlei.co.uk/